The Skeptical Seekerhttp://skepticalseeker.com
"Skeptical scrutiny is the means, in both science and religion, by which deep insights can be winnowed from deep nonsense." Carl SaganMon, 16 Feb 2015 19:15:53 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/http://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngThe Skeptical Seekerhttp://skepticalseeker.com
The Ferguson Masterpost: How To Argue Eloquently & Back Yourself Up With Factshttp://skepticalseeker.com/2014/11/30/the-ferguson-masterpost-how-to-argue-eloquently-back-yourself-up-with-facts/
http://skepticalseeker.com/2014/11/30/the-ferguson-masterpost-how-to-argue-eloquently-back-yourself-up-with-facts/#commentsSun, 30 Nov 2014 20:44:10 +0000http://skepticalseeker.com/2014/11/30/the-ferguson-masterpost-how-to-argue-eloquently-back-yourself-up-with-facts/[smut & sensibility]:We encourage you to share the link to this rather than reblogging the entire post (since this is frequently updated and we want to minimize the spread of outdated info!): bit.ly/FergusonAEM. Also, comment volume is high enough that personal replies are not always possible anymore; browse through the comments & see…]]>

Wow. As a contract to the general media confusion around the events in Ferguson, MO, this is a very organzed and imformative post. I think I’ll be digging through this for some time, but for now I wanted to go ahead and spread the word.

We encourage you to share the link to this rather than reblogging the entire post (since this is frequently updated and we want to minimize the spread of outdated info!): bit.ly/FergusonAEM. Also, comment volume is high enough that personal replies are not always possible anymore; browse through the comments & see if your issues/ideas have been addressed there.

Introduction From The Curator

Updates & Notes After Initial Publication

Note (11/30/14 at 12:35 PM EST): This was initially meant to be a smaller post, but I feel a duty to keep updating and fleshing it out. Still, I won’t be able to go past a certain point. That said, I hope it’s still helpful to y’all in whatever iteration is final & that you continue the conversation.

Note (11/29/14 at 8:00 PM EST): Holy moly, this got a ton of traction. Thanks to all the folks sharing, commenting, and helping us correct typos…

]]>http://skepticalseeker.com/2014/11/30/the-ferguson-masterpost-how-to-argue-eloquently-back-yourself-up-with-facts/feed/0Featured Image -- 2345SkepticalSeekerHappy Thanksgiving!http://skepticalseeker.com/2014/11/27/happy-thanksgiving-2/
http://skepticalseeker.com/2014/11/27/happy-thanksgiving-2/#commentsThu, 27 Nov 2014 16:42:56 +0000http://atheistyogi.wordpress.com/?p=2343]]>I am thankful for a warm house, hot coffee, the sense of safety I feel when I take a walk in my neighborhood (even when walking alone, or at night), and the fact that I can freely express my views on religion and politics without fear of persecution from my government. And that is the short list.]]>http://skepticalseeker.com/2014/11/27/happy-thanksgiving-2/feed/0SkepticalSeekerWhat I learned at Skepticon 7http://skepticalseeker.com/2014/11/24/what-i-learned-at-skepticon-7/
http://skepticalseeker.com/2014/11/24/what-i-learned-at-skepticon-7/#commentsMon, 24 Nov 2014 15:43:05 +0000http://skepticalseeker.com/?p=2337]]>I just got back home from Skepticon 7 late last night, and now is the time to recover and reflect. (If you don’t know what Skepticon is, visit http://skepticon.org/what/.) This year they had lots of speakers that I had not heard before (despite having gone to plenty of atheist conventions and hearing the most famous speakers multiple times). There was a very good variety of speakers and I commend the organizers for putting together such a fantastic lineup!

Here are some of the main ideas and learnings that I took away from Skepticon 7.

I learned about Ben’s firsthand experience of a Humanist Service Trip with the Pathfinders Project. The trip included teaching kids, helping villages develop a system to access clean water, a visit to a camp for accused witches in Uganda (and the heartbreaking results of superstition), and building latrines in Haiti. Also, a dangerous bout with malaria, reinterpreted as a process of personal transformation. Honestly, I am starting to cry as I write this, it was so heartwrenching and inspiring at the same time. So go to http://pathfindersproject.com and check out what they are doing. (Ben ‘Sweatervest’ Blanchard)

I learned that experiments with rats that show them helping other rats get out of a trap show that empathy and helping are hard-wired into mammals and do not require fancy cognition or culture. (Peggy Mason)

I learned that a careful analysis of studies that address the correlation of religion and wellbeing shows that when atheists are actually included in the studies and when the survey questions are relevant to atheists, the commonly media-touted claims about the religious being mentally healthier than atheists falls apart. It is a stable worldview is correlated to mental wellbeing, not a commited faith. (Melanie Brewster)

I also learned a concept of ‘minority stress’ that can affect atheists because of pervasive religous and anti-atheist prejudices in American culture. When atheists are compelled to self-censor out of fear of social censure from religous family or neighbors, and when they are exposed to frequent anti-atheist comments, the stress can cause mental and emotional damage. This is the major reason why atheist meetups and communities are important — they are safe spaces where atheists can get away from the sources of minority stress. (Melanie Brewster)

The distinction between natural and supernatural claims — between scientific and religous claims — is an illusion. There is no good reason not to think of the ‘supernatural’ (if it exists) as a natural realm that follows rules just like the natural world that we know. This idea has interesting implications for the sorts of claims that the religous make about God. (Scott Clifton)

I learned about ‘citizen science’ and there are websites like http://scistarter.com that anyone can go to to participate in the data-gathering process for scientific experiements, and participate in a casual or commited way depending on their own motivation and time. (Nichole Gigliucci)

I learned how an outsider to our culture can give a fresh perspective on the taboos and unspoken rules of our culture. (Heina Dababhoy)

I learned that ‘genderqueer’ is a gender category. I’d encountered the term before in blogs and speeches, but I never quite had a clear idea what it actually meant. I also learned that if you see something like ‘they/them’ in an online profile that means that those are the pronouns that the person wishes to be addressed by instead of ‘he’ or ‘she.’ Also, that it is appropriate to ask a person identifying as genderqueer what pronouns they prefer if you are not sure. (Twitter conversations in the #sk7 hashtag)

And last but not least, I learned that Skepticon organizers and participants put on the best Prom ever! XD

]]>http://skepticalseeker.com/2014/11/24/what-i-learned-at-skepticon-7/feed/1skepticon7logoSkepticalSeekerMy favorite fact of sciencehttp://skepticalseeker.com/2014/03/05/my-favorite-fact-of-science/
http://skepticalseeker.com/2014/03/05/my-favorite-fact-of-science/#commentsWed, 05 Mar 2014 23:18:41 +0000http://skepticalseeker.com/?p=2328]]>One of the fan questions in last night’s COSMOS panel (live streamed on Tuesday night ahead of the TV première of COSMOS 2104 on Sunday) was about the panel member’s favorite fact about science. It’s such a huge question that it would be hard to answer on the spot. My answer to this (after some thought), is that science is weird beyond what we can imagine and yet it is everyday, and all around us. Ever think about why, when you put your hand on a tabletop your hand does not just slip right though, although supposedly the atoms both are made of are mostly empty space? It’s because the electrons in the tightly packed atoms of your hand repel the electrons in the tightly packed atoms that make up the table—what you feel is the result of electromagnetic repulsion. I know I’m a big geek but when I first read about that I started tapping my hand against the table and felt slightly giddy with fascination. (NOTE: My understanding of how that actually works is not precise. Feel free to send corrections my way if I have described it incorrectly.)

Then there is that favorite fact that I learned first from my astronomy prof at UofL, and then heard again from Carl Sagan, that we are made of “starstuff.” It’s a bit of a romantic notion since people have long mystified the stars, but there is such an incredible depth to the idea that I never entirely get used to it. It encompasses the Big Bang and the formation of the simplest atoms of hydrogen. Those hydrogen atoms then clump together from gravity (since the expansion of matter from the Big Bang was not entirely uniform) into big balls of gas so massive that the pressure of gravity at their centers started smashing those hydrogen atoms together so hard that they fused together to make helium—producing vast amounts of heat and light in the process. Then the new star took billions of years to burn up all its hydrogen, so it then starts fusing the hydrogen into carbon—the basic elemental building block for life—and then carbon into iron (assuming it was a really massive star) and then exploded as a supernova since a star can’t sustain itself on iron fusion. And the heat and pressure from the supernova (which sometimes outshine their entire galaxy!) finishes the job and fuses the elements that are heavier than iron. *Deep breath, ‘cause that was a mouthful.* The supernova blasted those atoms out into space where they eventually formed dust clouds and new stars and solar systems, and…us. The wonder of massive stars far away and long, long ago, and the strangeness of atoms and nuclear processes, time scales beyond our innate comprehension…that’s what we’re made of. When you really get it, doesn’t it make your heart pound?

]]>http://skepticalseeker.com/2014/03/05/my-favorite-fact-of-science/feed/0cosmos-sliceSkepticalSeekerNO- Part II: Using the ‘Soft No’ and the ‘Dog-voice No’ in Sexual Situationshttp://skepticalseeker.com/2014/02/04/no-part-ii-using-the-soft-no-and-the-dog-voice-no-in-sexual-situations/
http://skepticalseeker.com/2014/02/04/no-part-ii-using-the-soft-no-and-the-dog-voice-no-in-sexual-situations/#commentsTue, 04 Feb 2014 15:20:36 +0000http://skepticalseeker.com/2014/02/04/no-part-ii-using-the-soft-no-and-the-dog-voice-no-in-sexual-situations/Disrupting Dinner Parties:content note: discussion of ‘almost’ sexual assault In NO (Part 1), I talked about how my mother taught me to assert my boundaries when I was I was a little girl. She taught me to say “No!” or “Stop!” loud and clear, with a straight face and a deep,…]]>

In NO (Part 1), I talked about how my mother taught me to assert my boundaries when I was I was a little girl. She taught me to say “No!” or “Stop!” loud and clear, with a straight face and a deep, firm voice as if I was talking to a misbehaving dog. When I grew up, it clicked that I could apply this loud, forceful ‘Dog-voice No’ to asserting my sexual boundaries. Furthermore, I took the principle of using firm serious body language and removed the loudness to create what I call the ‘Soft No’—a more palatable, but still potent I-mean-what-I-say signal.

Fortunately, I haven’t had to use the Dog-voice No or the Soft No very often. I am lucky enough to have spent most of my life surrounded by people that listen to my words. Nevertheless, every now and then…

Don’t tell me to look away, don’t you dare!
I have my faith
Faith that I can not only look at myself
But that I can turn that magnifying glass deep inside

Insecurity?
Doubt?
Fear?

Take it all in

Risk it
Accept it
Embrace it

And Then Look Deeper

I find Goodness inside of me
Compassion
Hope
Love

I will not turn away
I will not avert my eyes
I am worthy

And I am not afraid

]]>http://skepticalseeker.com/2014/02/03/my-faith-a-poem/feed/2SkepticalSeekerThe Cost of Atheism (or just asking questions)http://skepticalseeker.com/2014/01/07/the-cost-of-atheism-or-just-asking-questions/
http://skepticalseeker.com/2014/01/07/the-cost-of-atheism-or-just-asking-questions/#commentsTue, 07 Jan 2014 13:20:55 +0000http://skepticalseeker.com/2014/01/07/the-cost-of-atheism-or-just-asking-questions/Year Without God:We still love you! So many of my closest friends and colleagues have said this to me in the past few days. My initial, unspoken reaction was, “Well, I certainly hope so.” Now I understand that this is not a forgone conclusion. I didn’t realize, even four days ago,…]]>

Looks like the “year without a god” guy has been let go from all of his jobs with religious organizations and schools because of his openly questioning religion. Apparently, he has made some people very uncomfortable. The Friendly Atheist has started a fundraiser to help him make ends meet while he lands another job.

And, as his blog post puts very well, he is really learning the costs that being atheists have for some members of our society.

So many of my closest friends and colleagues have said this to me in the past few days. My initial, unspoken reaction was, “Well, I certainly hope so.” Now I understand that this is not a forgone conclusion. I didn’t realize, even four days ago, how difficult it would be for some people to embrace me while I was embracing this journey of open inquiry into the question of God’s existence. I have to say that anyone who knows me personally, while they may not agree with what I’m doing or fully understand it, has expressed their support for me personally. I deeply appreciate that because the organizations that I have been affiliated with have not been able to do the same.

It began on the evening of January 1—the very first day of my year without god. First text messages, then email saying, “We need…

]]>http://skepticalseeker.com/2014/01/01/2013-in-review/feed/0SkepticalSeekerMicroblogging #365DaysofGratitudehttp://skepticalseeker.com/2013/08/03/microblogging-365daysofgratitude/
http://skepticalseeker.com/2013/08/03/microblogging-365daysofgratitude/#commentsSat, 03 Aug 2013 19:03:14 +0000http://skepticalseeker.com/?p=2305]]>For the past couple months I’ve been occupied with projects that do not include writing new blog entries. However, in the meantime I have made it a personal goal to post something on Twitter each day this year (since my birthday in June) about something for which I am thankful. Well, not quite every morning since I find it incredibly difficult to do anything consistently every day for a year, but the intention is still there. :) These are posted to my Facebook page as well as Twitter, so if you are interested you can follow either source.

]]>http://skepticalseeker.com/2013/08/03/microblogging-365daysofgratitude/feed/1SkepticalSeekerThe sad plight of the American housecathttp://skepticalseeker.com/2013/05/10/the-sad-plight-of-the-american-housecat/
http://skepticalseeker.com/2013/05/10/the-sad-plight-of-the-american-housecat/#commentsFri, 10 May 2013 11:42:54 +0000http://skepticalseeker.com/?p=2303]]>While I am out thinking up new posts and finding time to write them, here is a little I found on the Why Evolution is True blog. Enjoy :)]]>http://skepticalseeker.com/2013/05/10/the-sad-plight-of-the-american-housecat/feed/0SkepticalSeeker